Lock the doors and watch visitors with video cameras, Bethlehem parents urged school officials Thursday during a forum on school safety.

About 15 parents showed up for the session at Liberty High School, the second meeting this week held to brainstorm ideas for increasing security for the district's 13,000 students.

While the catalyst for the seminars was the massacre at Columbine High School, Superintendent Tom Doluisio said heightened concern for safety was a priority before the Colorado shootings.

Bethlehem administrators the night before the tragedy met to update their emergency plan, which outlines procedures for such things as school violence.

"Columbine aside, this district ... has seen the need to shore up and make our schools safer," Doluisio said.

Parent Naomi Rivera, whose child attends Northeast Middle School, suggested the district offer training to teachers about identifying troubled youth and work on incorporating loners into the school community.

At Columbine, the shooters were students who had been disenfranchised and considered "different," she said.

Doluisio said the district is compiling behavioral profiles of potentially violent students. Profiles will be distributed to teachers.

Doluisio said the idea of locking the doors is being considered for the elementary schools, but it would be a problem at the high schools. Liberty High School has 80 doors in four buildings, he said, and students often travel outdoors to change classes.

If students weren't permitted to go outside, "We'd have a traffic jam like the Schuylkill Expressway," Doluisio said. "This is like a mini-college, and we like that environment at the high schools."

Northeast Middle School Principal Terry Martin said students don't want to attend class in a prison-like environment.

"They have no problems with the searches, but they're not in favor of a lockdown," he said.

Bethlehem police searched lockers for drugs six times this year, but no illegal substances were found.

Security cameras are under consideration for the elementary schools and visitors would only be able to gain admittance through a "buzz-in" system monitored by the office staff.

"I'm almost sure that's one suggestion we're going to bring to the board," Doluisio said.

Items that cost money to implement will go before the school board June 28, before the budget is approved, and a comprehensive security plan will be presented July 19.

Parent Sandy Elliot, whose child attends Spring Garden Elementary School, said teachers need to differentiate for pupils when it's OK to "tattle," because they're programmed not to report certain behavior and that could be dangerous.

She suggested putting a "tattle box" in classrooms so pupils can alert teachers of problems.

"There's a lot of harassment in elementary schools, and it's not being dealt with effectively," she said.

Doluisio went a step further saying an anonymous hotline might make sense.

Peer mediation and conflict resolution programs are helping to minimize verbal and physical fights, administrators said, as well as the district's code of conduct.

During the 1997-98 school year, 73 students were expelled. This year 25 students were thrown out, Doluisio said.

"I call that progress," he said. "We haven't changed the code to make it easier. The kids are getting the message that they're expected to behave."